Was watching Kids In the Hall yesterday and part of the “Girl Drink Drunk” sketch got me wondering what the origin of the “drinking bender” scene is. You know, black background, bar signs floating around and past drunken person stumbling around. It’s been copied/parodied in countless films, TV shows, and cartoons. I was curious where that originated. Anyone know?
The Lost Weekend.
I admit this is a WAG because I haven’t seen the film, but I suspect it may have originated from Lost Weekend, classic Billy Wilder film starring Ray Milland as an alcoholic writer.
Edited: Goddamit! Second scooping in 24 hours! Shouldn’t’ve taken the time to find an URL.
Aha. Very nice. Thank you!
I bet he spent his lost weekend in Rio
Aaaaaannndd, TVTropes has a page for everything.
A non-drunken example of this is in the opening number is Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, where the nearsighted Magoo wanders up Broadway singing about how great it is to be onstage again, while animated copies of the marquees of famous Broadway theaters float by, crossing over each other. You also see neon lights (which he sings about) and floating press clippings (of reviews).
It’s not listed on the TV Tropes page, but they do list the “drunken binge” scene from Gay Purr-ee, which many of the same people were involved in.